1. Direct Comparison: 4–6 Cores / 8–12 GB RAM Class
All figures default to 0% VAT (excl. tax); use the selector to preview 19% German VAT or your local EU VAT rate:
| Feature | netcup VPS 1000 G12.5 | netcup RS 1000 G12.5 | Contabo Cloud VPS 4 | OVHcloud VPS-2 (2027) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU architecture | 4 shared x86 vCores | 4 dedicated EPYC 9645 cores | 4 shared vCPU (high density) | 6 shared vCores |
| RAM size & spec | 8 GB ECC | 8 GB DDR5 ECC | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| Storage allocation | 128 GB SSD | 128 GB NVMe | 100 GB SSD (or 75 GB NVMe) | 100 GB NVMe |
| Port bandwidth | 2.5 Gbit/s | 2.5 Gbit/s | Only 200 Mbit/s | 1 Gbit/s |
| 12M / Promo price / mo (0% VAT) | €12.18 | €18.26 | €4.40 (24M promo) | €7.21 (12M upfront) |
| Standard / Renewal / mo (0% VAT) | €12.18 (never hikes) | €18.26 (never hikes) | €5.50 (+25% at mo 25) | €8.49 (monthly) |
| Setup fee (0% VAT) | €0.00 | €0.00 | €4.50 (applied on short terms) | €0.00 |
| SLA & guarantee | 99.6% datacenter avg | 99.9% SLA + 30d money-back | Only 95.0% annual availability in T&C | 99.9% SLA |
| Outbound Port 25 (Mail) | Unblocked via SCP in 30 sec | Unblocked via SCP in 30 sec | Supported | Often blocked on new regions/accounts |
2. Contabo Cloud VPS Pricing: Month-25 Renewal Hike & NVMe Capacity Halving
Official pricing from contabo.com/en/vps/ (default 0% VAT excl. tax). Two fine-print mechanics significantly affect Contabo’s long-term cost and disk capacity:
- Month-25 price hike (+25%): Contabo’s headline rates require a 24-month commitment and revert to standard list prices starting in Month 25. At 0% VAT, Cloud VPS 4 jumps from €4.40 to €5.50/mo (+25.0%), Cloud VPS 6 jumps from €6.00 to €7.50/mo (+25.0%), and Cloud VPS 8 jumps from €11.20 to €14.00/mo (+25.0%). In contrast, netcup renewal rates remain permanently fixed.
- Choosing NVMe reduces your storage capacity: On Contabo Cloud VPS 4, the default 100 GB allocation is SATA/SAS-backed SSD; selecting the NVMe storage option cuts the disk size to 75 GB NVMe (compared to 128 GB NVMe on netcup RS 1000 G12.5).
- 200 Mbit/s bandwidth cap & 95% SLA: Contabo Cloud VPS 4 is throttled to 200 Mbit/s (1/12.5th of netcup's 2.5 Gbps port). Moreover, Contabo's SLA only guarantees 95% annual availability, permitting up to 18 days of downtime per year without breach of contract.
| Plan | Cores | RAM | Storage | Port | Promo (first 24 mo) (0% VAT) | Standard / mo (0% VAT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contabo Cloud VPS 4 | 4 (shared) | 8 GB | 100 GB SSD | 200 Mbit/s | €4.40 | €5.50 |
| Contabo Cloud VPS 6 | 6 (shared) | 12 GB | 200 GB SSD / 100 GB NVMe | 300 Mbit/s | €6.00 | €7.50 |
| Contabo Cloud VPS 8 | 8 (shared) | 24 GB | 300 GB SSD / 150 GB NVMe | 600 Mbit/s | €11.20 | €14.00 |
| Contabo Cloud VPS 12 | 12 (shared) | 48 GB | 400 GB SSD / 200 GB NVMe | 800 Mbit/s | €20.00 | €25.00 |
| Contabo Cloud VPS 16 | 16 (shared) | 64 GB | 500 GB SSD / 250 GB NVMe | 1 Gbit/s | €29.60 | €37.00 |
3. Sustained Disk I/O & Noisy Neighbor Degradation (fio 4k & %wa Latency)
In community hosting benchmarks (LowEndTalk, ServerFault), Contabo is frequently flagged for severe long-term disk I/O degradation under shared tenant load:
- Contabo Shared Storage Pools: High-density host nodes share SATA/SSD storage arrays across hundreds of virtual machines. While fresh instances report acceptable bursts, 30-day benchmarks show
fio4k random writes frequently dropping to 15–35 MB/s (< 2,000 IOPS), causing high%wa(iowait) CPU lockups during database commits. - netcup Dedicated Hardware RAID NVMe: On netcup RS 1000 G12.5, enterprise hardware RAID NVMe backed by dedicated AMD EPYC 9645 cores delivers 749 MB/s (187.3k IOPS) in 4k mixed random read/write and 4.13 GB/s (64.6k IOPS) in 64k sequential tests, maintaining 0.0% CPU steal and < 0.2ms I/O latency indefinitely. Even the budget netcup VPS 1000 sustains 300–450 MB/s (75k+ IOPS).
- OVHcloud NVMe Baseline: OVHcloud 2027 generation VPS instances offer consistent NVMe I/O (450–650 MB/s), though base disk allocations are comparatively modest (100 GB on VPS-2) with steep add-on block storage pricing.
4. Physical Port Speeds, Monthly Traffic Caps & Regional Surcharges
| Network Metric | netcup RS / VPS G12.5 | Contabo Cloud VPS 4 | OVHcloud VPS-2 (2027) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical port bandwidth | 2.5 Gbit/s standard | 200 Mbit/s (VPS 6: 300M) | 1 Gbit/s standard |
| Included monthly traffic | 120 TB / mo (RS) · 80 TB / mo (VPS) | 32 TB / mo | Unmetered |
| Overage penalty | Soft throttle to 200/300M, €0 fee | Throttled to 100 Mbit/s | None |
| Overseas location fee | €0 for Europe; fixed surcharge for US/SG | US/SG surcharges: +€1.50 to +€3.50/mo (0% VAT) | Included across 8 global regions |
| DDoS mitigation | Anexia 2 Tbps edge scrubbers | Standard DDoS filter | OVH VAC Game-grade hardware protection |
Transferring a 50 GB database backup over Contabo's 200 Mbit/s port requires approximately 38 minutes; on netcup's 2.5 Gbit/s interface, the same transfer finishes in under 3 minutes.
5. OVHcloud VPS Pricing (2027 Generation: VPS-1 to VPS-4)
Official pricing from ovhcloud.com/en-ie/vps/ (default 0% VAT excl. tax). OVHcloud offers 8 global regions (France, Germany, UK, Poland, Canada, US, Singapore, Australia) and DDoS protection, with progressive discounts for 12-month and 24-month commitments:
| Plan | 1 month (0% VAT) | 12-month upfront / mo (0% VAT) | SLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| OVH VPS-1 (2027) | €4.49 | €3.81 | 99.9% |
| OVH VPS-2 (2027) | €8.49 | €7.21 | 99.9% |
| OVH VPS-3 (2027) | €12.24 | €10.40 | 99.9% |
| OVH VPS-4 (2027) | €23.49 | €19.96 | 99.9% |
6. 36-Month Total Cost of Ownership (36-Month TCO) Breakdown
While Contabo advertises a €4.40 headline price (0% VAT), factoring in setup fees, the month-25 price hike, and voucher credits reveals the actual 3-year expenditure (default 0% VAT excl. tax, live-synced with the VAT selector above):
| Cost Component (36M · 0% VAT) | netcup VPS 1000 G12.5 (24M term) | netcup RS 1000 G12.5 (24M term) | Contabo Cloud VPS 4 (24M promo) | OVHcloud VPS-2 (12M term) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-time setup fee | €0.00 | €0.00 | €4.50 | €0.00 |
| First 24 months rental | €248.40 | €372.48 | €105.60 | €173.04 |
| Months 25–36 rental (12 months) | €124.20 | €186.24 | €66.00 (Hiked) | €86.52 |
| First-order voucher deduction | −€10.35 (1 mo free) | −€31.04 (2 mo free) | €0.00 | €0.00 |
| SCP snapshots & raw exports | €0.00 (Free local export) | €0.00 (Free local export) | €0.00 (1 slot included) | €0.00 (1 slot included) |
| Total 36-Month TCO | €362.25 | €527.68 | €176.10 | €259.56 |
| Effective monthly cost | €10.06 / mo | €14.66 / mo | €4.89 / mo | €7.21 / mo |
Key Finding (0% VAT Net): Contabo Cloud VPS 4 has the lowest nominal 3-year cash outlay (€176.10 / €4.89/mo at 0% VAT), but enforces a 200 Mbit/s port cap, a 95% SLA, and a +25% jump in Month 25. For 4C / 8 GB budget buyers, netcup’s VPS Lite 2 G12.5s costs €7.98/mo (0% VAT, 160 GB SSD, 1 Gbit/s), while VPS 1000 G12.5 averages €10.06/mo (0% VAT) with a 12.5× faster 2.5 Gbit/s port and permanent renewal rates; RS 1000 G12.5 averages €14.66/mo (0% VAT) for 4 dedicated physical EPYC 9645 cores and a 99.9% SLA.
7. Which Provider Should You Choose?
Objective Architectural Verdict
- Choose netcup RS 1000 G12.5 if you run production databases (PostgreSQL/MySQL), Docker stacks, or mail servers requiring dedicated EPYC physical cores, sustained 70k+ IOPS NVMe, 2.5 Gbit/s bandwidth, and rates that never jump after year two (~€14.66/mo effective over 36M at 0% VAT).
- Choose netcup VPS 1000 G12.5 (or VPS Lite 2) if you need a reliable 4-core, 8 GB RAM node for web hosting, proxy gateways, or background tasks with 2.5 Gbit/s throughput (~€10.06/mo effective at 0% VAT, or €7.98/mo on VPS Lite 2).
- Choose OVHcloud if your application requires deployment in France, the UK, Poland, Canada, or Australia, or needs game-grade Anti-DDoS VAC protection for UDP game servers (Minecraft/Rust).
- Consider Contabo only if your application is completely insensitive to CPU steal and disk I/O latency, operates under 200 Mbit/s bandwidth, and you merely need bulk RAM at minimum upfront cost before migrating at month 24.